Summary
A stunning double from Fernando Torres coupled with Eden Hazard’s goal cruised the Blues to a comfortable 3-0 away win in Germany against Schalke. It was an early lead for Chelsea as a ball that curled in from the head of Ivanovic went to the far post where the Spaniard comfortably put in to the back of the net for the opener. Then, we had to wait till 2nd half for the 2nd goal and it arrived in the 68th minute in the form of Torres once again. It was a sizzling counter attacking football from Mourinho’s men as Fernando Torres got at the end of a fast paced play from Oscar and Hazard.
Not wanting to leave the pitch without a goal after a brilliant performance, Eden Hazard got his 3rd goal in 2 games with few minutes remaining. It was once again a counter attacking move as Ramires cleared the ball out of his half and Hazard got at the end of it. After driving into the area with speed and strong pace, he guided his shot into the back of the net to safely put the Blues in charge of group E after a successive of two high scoring away wins!
Now, before turning our focus to analysis and What We Learned to come shortly, let’s look at both teams starting Line-up and some stats from the game to see how both teams fared. The man of the match is clearly for Fernando Torres as the Spaniard scored twice in a brilliant performance on his 100th start for Chelsea!
Schalke 04 starting 11: Hildebrand; Uchida, Howedes (c), Matip, Aogo; Jones (Kolasinac 71), Neustadter; Clemens, Meyer (Goretzka 78), Draxler; Boateng.
Chelsea FC starting 11: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Ramires, Lampard; Hazard (Eto’o 89), Oscar (David Luiz 82), Schurrle (Mikel 71); Torres.
Speaking about the controversial surprise that Azpilicueta started on the left wing in place of the injured Ashley Cole ahead of Bertrand, Jose Mourinho said after the game, he knew that Azpi won’t be attacking since it isn’t his natural spot but, made a great contribution defensively. The preferring of the Spaniard ahead of Bertrand follows from the tactical point of view of the German’s style of play on the wing as they rely on fast paced wingers to hurt opposition. Brilliant move by Jose on that!
Match Statics (Possession stats and Goal stats)
Talking after the game overall, we made a great response from our opening match defeat against Basel and hammered Steaua Bucharest and Schalke away from home scoring 7 goals and conceding non in the process. This, as Jose said in post match interview, puts us in great condition to finish and qualify in first place of Group E. Thanks for reading our report and I sincerely apologize for some silly errors I made in the previous report for the Cardiff game. I appreciate all of the comments to correct my error. You can follow me on twitter (@FahmiCFC) and KTBFFH!!!
Mou made all the right decisions tonight tactically, subs and the starting 11, Only bit im bumed out about is Torres didnt get his hat-trick
Good job blues!!
wasn’t surprised about Azi starting at right back
Azi didn’t start from right back but left back.
meant left back, like his composure
All things coddineres, this is a first class post
Delighted to see Fernando looking happy, played a fantastic game. He’s reborn all thanks to the confidence he’s regained since Mourinho returned. MOTM.
A couple of trivia:
1) First time ever in 11 Champions League home games that Schalke have NOT scored a goal.
2) In the last 4 games, Chelsea scored 14 goals whilst conceding only 2.
At last, soomene comes up with the “right” answer!
Bravo boys!!! But 1st half was boring..
Great performance by blues, way to go! Now we have two big matches to come, mancity and arsenal. Hope we perform well in those matches also.
Am waiting for ‘What we learnt’
Cahill solid than luiz??
Hazard becoming a goal Machine?
Torres back to liverpool form?
‘Dave’ can play both sides under The Special One?
Cech proves Thibout courtious diserves loan?
What do u think??
Cahill more suitable to deal with aerial threats than Luiz but the latter is better at intercepting through passes by teams that attack through the middle.
Hazard possess a good finish but still has yet to prove that he is a big game player. Torres is becoming consistently more clinical but still not at Liverpool level yet where he scores beauties out of nothing. Dave clearly looks uncomfortable on the left side and I felt Bertrand played really well and should have been given a chance. Cech is still very good and I feel he deserves to be our number 1 and not Courtois who is not loyal to our club and keep saying he wants to leave Chelsea for other Spanish clubs.
Its the truth, i can side with u..
Cahill better at aerially, strength and tackles of defending Luiz better at interceptions and chasing players two players completely different who can compliment eachother well if they work hard. Hazard still has a fair way too go he is tipped to be a Ballon D’Or winner but he is still world class for his age. When Torres starts scoring from nothing then he will be back he has found his shooting boots but thats it. Not really Courtois is doing great in Athletico’s group he is a wall for them
Cech is not good enough comparing to Curtuois but experience matter alot in such suituation, that one has past let face City match
WTF Cech not good enough? Go back in the kitchen mate. Football ain’t your things
please may i have what you are smoking?
Good performance. For the 1st time since Mou’s second coming, we are getting our lightning quick counter attacks going. This is why Torres thrives on and his goal scoring form is showing this. Hazard’s form of late is also gladdening. Oscar is in form. Hazard is in form. I only pray that Mata gets in form too. Then Chelsea wil be unstoppable.
PS: CFC360 nearly made me miss the game yesterday. 19:45 GMT? Seriously? If not for the update from Torres’ early goal, would have missed an entire half.
It did start at 19:45 GMT???
sorry, were in BST still arn’t we…it was 19:45 though…
CFC 360 said 1945 GMT (2045 BST) in their match preview. Meanwhile the match actually started 1845 GMT (1945 BST). If Torres had not scored early thus making me receive the goal alert on my phone, I would have missed an entire half and would have never forgiven CFC360!
It really wasn’t happy cus l missed the match. Chelsea is getting strong each match